Bloomfield Hills man gets 3 years in prison in fraud cases

A Bloomfield Hills man has been sentenced to three years in prison for mail and wire fraud on charges that he submitted a false insurance claim on a Southfield business building and that he bilked a Nevada woman for more than $645,000.

Patrick D. Winter, 54, was sentenced Monday on conviction of defrauding an insurance company and investment fraud in two separate cases, according to a press release from U.S. District Attorney Barbara McQuade's office.

Winter managed D.K.E. Inc., which owned a commercial office building on Nine Mile Road in Southfield. He caused a "false, inflated claim to be submitted to the Secura Insurance Company, stemming from a fire that substantially damaged that building," the release states.

The fire began Oct. 4, 2004, and continued into the following day.

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The defense presented documents indicating that Winter attempted to "inflate the insurance claim by as much as $232,521," the release states.

The insurance company did not pay the claim, which totaled nearly $1 million and is the subject of civil litigation in Oakland County Circuit Court.

Winter's sentence also included a separate case, in which he was accused of soliciting more than $645,500 from a Nevada woman between July 2008 and August 2010.

Winter convinced the 60-year-old woman "to liquidate her entire life savings, and give the proceeds to him," the release states.

"He falsely promised to invest the money in a real estate development which would pay high returns."

Winter, who has nine children, earned the woman's trust after flying to Nevada and showing her a photo of his family.

"He corresponded with her about personal bankruptcy and about letting her home go into foreclosure, all the while soliciting tens of thousands of dollars more from her," the release states.

"Winter used the money for personal expenses. The victim lost her house and was forced to live with her parents."